Tag: Hugo Chavez

Maduro, mired in crises, hits re-election campaign trail

by Maria Isabel SANCHEZ Agence France-Presse CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) – With Venezuela in economic free-fall, massively unpopular President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday launched his sudden campaign for a new term in a vote to be held by late April. The 55-year-old, who was Hugo Chavez’s handpicked successor, will be the ruling socialist party’s sole candidate. Maduro, a former union activist and bus driver assumed power in April 2013 after longtime president Hugo Chavez died in office from […]

Fleeing Maduro critic says Venezuela now lawless

by Damian Wroclavsky Agence France-Presse BRASILIA, Brazil  –  Venezuela’s fugitive former top prosecutor resurfaced in Brazil on Wednesday claiming to possess “a lot” of proof of President Nicolas Maduro’s corruption and warning that her life remains in danger. Days after a dramatic escape from chaotic Venezuela, Luisa Ortega, 59, turned up the heat on Maduro, who has asked Interpol to issue a “red notice” warrant for the arrest of his critic. Ortega — speaking at a […]

Maduro: presiding over Venezuela’s crisis in shadow of Chavez

by Alexander MARTINEZ CARACAS , Venezuela (AFP) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro owes his rule to his left-wing predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, and he’s not about to let anybody forget it. He often gives speeches in front of portraits of Chavez, whom he calls “the eternal commander,” speaks of continuing the “Chavismo” brand of socialism, and wears the red shirts or caps that are emblematic of Chavez’s “Bolivarian revolution.” The props are meant to […]

Crisis-hit Venezuela sets clocks ahead to save power

by Ernesto TOVAR CARACAS , Venezuela (AFP) — With their country gripped by an economic crisis, Venezuelans lost half an hour of sleep Sunday as their clocks were set forward to save power on President Nicolas Maduro’s orders. At 2:30 am local time, the oil-dependent South American nation shifted its time ahead by 30 minutes — to four hours behind Greenwich Mean Time. The move, announced in mid-April, is part of a package of measures […]

Venezuela devalues bolivar, raises fuel price amid crisis

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday (February 17) devalued the currency and raised heavily subsidized fuel prices in an effort to stem a widening economic crisis, though critics of the socialist leader quickly dismissed the moves as insufficient. The measures are meant to help shore up the OPEC nation’s finances as plummeting oil prices and a collapsing state-led economic model have left the country with a severe recession, triple-digit inflation and […]

Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro slams removal of Hugo Chavez portraits from Congress

Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro slammed on Thursday (January 7) the recent removal of images of socialist leader and former president Hugo Chavez from the new opposition-led Congress. Furious after this week’s unceremonious removal of the giant Chavez photos, Maduro berated the president of the National Assembly, Henry Ramos, saying the move was an insult to 19th century independence hero, Simon Bolivar. “That which happened yesterday [in reference to removal of Chavez photos from Congress] is part […]